Clinical Features of Super-old Patients with COVID-19 in the Long-term Care Facility in Okinawa Prefecture

Abstract

During the cluster that occurred during the Omicron BA.5 epidemic, we experienced 24 cases of novel coronavirus infection (hereinafter referred to as COVID-19) at a nursing home in Okinawa prefecture. In this study, we demonstrated their clinical features, radiological findings, and laboratory results. Since this special nursing home for the elderly is located in the same building as the general hospital, which is a major medical institution for COVID-19, it was easy to perform chest CT and laboratory tests. The median age of the 24 cases was 91 years. None of the cases had respiratory failure at onset. Of the 21 cases in which chest CT could be performed, 11 had findings consistent with COVID-19 pneumonia. In principle, patients diagnosed with COVID-19 pneumonia were admitted to a designated medical institution and treated with remdesivir. In the nursing home, oral antiviral drugs were administered from early onset. Antibiotics were administered in combination with aspiration pneumonia in cases in which chest CT revealed aspiration pneumonia. One of the 24 cases (4.2%) died of respiratory failure associated with exacerbation of aspiration pneumonia. This report is valuable due to the fact it presents the clinical features, radiological findings, and laboratory results of COVID-19 in the very elderly.